The organization and retrieval of food stored in the common refrigerator or cooling unit is problematic for the average user who must rely on the large built-in drawers to accommodate specific items or otherwise fit variously sized food containers on shelves or racks. Food items are stuffed in drawers and hidden from view or are pushed back to the rear of shelves to become lost, forgotten, spoiled or spilled. Users who may know where a particular food item is stored may have significant difficulty accessing that item easily. And organization of the various bulky or half full food containers within the refrigerator or cooler can be a surprisingly difficult task. The vertical space on any given refrigerator shelf is often haphazardly or inefficiently utilized because of all the hastily stacked, bulky, slippery, or cumbersome foods and/or food containers that must be stored on each shelf. As a result, a great deal of food is wasted or spoiled. And users waste significant time looking for and retrieving items.
A variety of storage containers have been designed in an attempt to make food storage and retrieval more effective and efficient. Common examples of storage containers include plastic containers with collapsible lids, multi-sized and shaped lid/container combinations for covering and stacking, dome-shaped covers for covering ordinary serving plates or bowls, and ethylene absorbing bags for storing and keeping fresh vegetables and fruits fresh. But container or bags often clutter the refrigerator storage space and make it difficult for the user to identify the food contained therein. The different sizes and shapes make them difficult to organize. Soft topped containers are susceptible to being crushed. Stacked items are not easily removed and replaced. And systems designed to fit within refrigerator drawers are often inaccessible without pulling out the entire drawer. Users with restricted movement (particularly children, disabled, or elderly persons) have difficulty accessing the food containers or otherwise setting them back in the refrigerator.
While prior art systems have been invented to alleviate problems, they also have significant drawbacks. For example, International Publication WO20008/037017 (inventor McDonald, published Apr. 3, 2008) discloses a food storage container assembly having a large open top container (or body) housing two removeable containers and having an elastomeric lid which seals the open top as well as the open tops of the internal containers. This system is not easily utilized as the assembly is not easily accessible and the lid does not adequately seal both the open top container and the removeable containers stored therein. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 7,326,428 (inventor Weir, 2008) discloses a divided container system comprising a master tray with interior bottom surface designed to receive at least one insertable subtray to one or more committed spaces within the master tray, and a lid for sealing both the master tray and subtrays utilizing a grid/groove structure on the bottom surface of the lid. The design creates the extra difficulty of having to “fit” each subtray into the receptacle portion of the master tray which is particularly difficult for persons lacking fine motor skills or having visual limitations (and is particularly difficult for children and disabled persons to use). The system is also difficult to clean because of the grid protrusions/grooves in the surfaces of the master container and lid which catch food and must be scrubbed clean. The master and sub-tray approach does not alleviate the problem of finding a place within the refrigerator or cooling unit to place the master tray. Further, it does not accommodate the use of bowls or containers which might not be part of the system (i.e. containers which might be of different sizes or not conforming with the grooves in the master tray and lid). While the system is stackable, one must remove the top tray to access the tray stacked underneath. US Patent Pub. No. 5016756A (inventor Kehlbeck, filed Jun. 1, 1989) also discloses a multi-partitioned food storage and serving apparatus which providing compartmental storage capability utilizing bowls, cavities and partitions. Unfortunately, the system has all drawbacks associated with cleanup, storage and utility as the similar systems described above.
The prior art food storage containers and systems described above fail to provide adequate solutions to the problem of easily and efficiently storing food within a refrigerator or cooling unit.